28 Nov

In the last post, I went over a basic technique that is important in your magickal practice. Just like that post, this one is dedicated to explaining something that is very important and sometimes misunderstood. Smudging is as essential practice in magick and it’s important to know how to use it effectively.

Smudging is the practice of using smoke from burning incense or herbs as a way of cleansing. You can use smudging to cleanse an object to consecrate it for your magickal work. You can also use it to cleanse your body before a ritual, or to protect your home or circle. The smoke from herbs can help dissuade negative energy and lingering bad feelings.

Just like you want to take a long, hot shower after a hard day at work, you can use smudging to take a â€œspiritualâ€ bath. This removes all residue from your day and cleans up the space you’re going to work in. It is akin to salt water in this way in that it can cleanse and purify. The type of incense or herbs that you use for smudging can make all the difference in your success.

One of the most common herbs used for smudging is sage. I use it myself, and until I started researching for this article, I had no idea there were so many types of sage available. I knew that there were differences between the sage that is used as incense and the sage that is used for cooking, but there are also several subspecies of each of these types of sage. The type of Sage used for cooking is called Salvia, and has two major varieties: Garden Sage and White Sage. Evidence of sage’s healing and cleansing properties are evidenced in the name, that is based on the Latin word salvare which means to heal. Even though Salvia is commonly used for cooking, it can also be used for smudging.

Artemisia is the other common form of sage, that is also referred to as sagebrush. It’s found growing wild in California and other western states. Common Sagebrush and Mugwort are the two most common varieties of this type of sage.

Sage has a long history of being used in ceremonies for purification and protection. Native Americans used sage frequently in their ceremonies to banish evil spirits, remove negative thoughts and cleanse an area for ceremonies. The floors of sweatlodges of the Plains Natives were composed of sage leaves intermingled with the dirt. They were also rubbed on the body during the sweatlodge ceremonies. The Sioux Indians used a Sacred Pipe in their ceremonies filled with sage.

Cedar is another common natural element used for smudging. Although it’s not technically an herb it has very powerful properties that trace back to Native American traditions. The most common forms of cedar used for smudging is Western Red Cedar and California Incense Cedar. The Plains Natives burned Cedar while praying to the great spirit.

Today, you can use it to bless a house before moving in and to purify your house that you are already living in. Cedar is also known for attracting good energy to your home, so I always keep a bit around to burn on a weekly basis. You can never have too much help when it comes to attracting good energy! You can normally find Cedar in chips at herb stores. In order to use it, you need to add it to charcoal in a brazier. Make sure to light your brazier in a safe place and keep an eye on it while it is burning.

Sweetgrass is a favorite of mine when it comes to smudging. It has a crisp scent that reminds me of the outdoors. Sweetgrass was most commonly used by the Sioux and Cherokee Native Americans. You may already be familiar with sweetgrass or at least recognize it from your local herb or magickal shop. It’s sold in braids, like hair. I used to just light the end of the braid of the sweetgrass, but I went through a lot of the incense that way! If you’re on a budget, or just want to be economical, you can scrape parts of the braid into your brazier. It’s traditional to use sweetgrass after smudging an area with sage to call in the the good spirits.

No matter what type of ingredients you use for smudging, you should pay attention to your intentions as you allow the smoke to sweep over your body, through your space or around your tools. Picture the smoke acting as a broom and sweeping away the negative energy. Remember to thank the plants that the incense came from and honor their sacrifice for your benefit. When you keep things in this perspective, you’re smudging correctly. Hopefully you’ll make it a major part of your practice inside and outside of the circle.

Brightest Blessings,

Rose Ariadne
Your Warm And Caring “Resident Witch In Charge”

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21 Nov

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I often give the instruction to â€œcast a circle as you normally wouldâ€ before launching into ritual. You may have wondered what a circle is and why it is important in magick. In magickal practice, or any type of spiritual practice, it’s as basic as learning the ABCs. Casting a circle is not just something to be taken lightly. Even though I sometimes gloss over the process when I write of rituals, it doesn’t mean it’s significance is any less than that of the actual ritual. My gloss over from time to time is simply a result of having this part of the process so ingrained into my understanding that I tend to forget that I need to explain it.

Circles are cast in order to protect you (psychically) from dark forces that you can be susceptible to during your magickal work. By dark forces, I mean that there is dark and light to everything….and that includes energy and spirit. When you put yourself into a highly positive spiritual state, like you do when you are doing spellwork, while you are meditating or while you are attempting to do psychic work, you are sending out a little beacon to the dark that exists around you. Your normal psychic defenses are incapacitated on these moments. When you open yourself up to being spiritual, you are relinquishing control over your life. It’s a state of being â€œopen.â€ Casting a circle ensures that you are opening yourself to the right types of things.

Being a wise Pagan, I’m sure you always cast a circle before you start magickal work. But if you don’t the time to start is now. A circle is like a psychic shield that goes out and prevents anything that you do not want from coming in. It’s like a sandbox. You decide what comes in that you want to â€œplayâ€ with, and everything else stays out according to your will. Casting a circle is the most basic and most important type of protective magick.

It’s vitally important that you cleanse yourself and your space, cast a protective circle and then do your magick. Doing it in this fashion will help you stay safe while you open yourself psychically and spiritually. Before doing a ritual, you should also take some steps to cleanse and clear yourself from any â€œresidueâ€ you may be carrying from the outside world. Take a ritual cleansing bath, immerse yourself in incense or sprinkle yourself with some salt water.

Some could argue that the act of making a circle is more psychological than physical. And there’s definitely some validity to that point. I can’t physically see my circle. I can feel the subtle vibration of energy around me. And I feel the energy flowing between me and the rest of the room. But I’m not sure if my circle would stand up to scientific tests. That being said, there’s no reason why a circle shouldn’t work…even if it is just psychological and not physical.

Drawing out the circle and taking the steps to make it â€œrealâ€ to you is a powerful action, whether it is physical or not. When you create the circle you are declaring that â€œthisâ€ is in your control. The space inside of the circle is under your command. Anything outside of the circle that you do not want to come in is not welcome. You decide what enters your space. This declaration combined with the physical action of walking around your circle signals your subconscious mind that something special is happening and that this time needs to be revered.

Creating a circle is creating a shift in your mind. So much of the time, we walk through life without taking notice of what is really happening around us. We live half lives with our energy scattered here and there. We don’t realize the impact that our energy has until we focus it. Rituals help focus our energy, and it all starts with casting a circle.

Casting a circle should be done before every ritual, spellwork or even meditation. I know many people, including myself, that do a modified circle casting before we read tarot cards. This was we can focus our attentions and block negative energies from entering the space.

Begin your circle casting by purifying the area with sprinkled salt water. Walk the boundary of your circle and sprinkle the water as you go. Then ask for protective spirits to enter and stand watch over the circle. Many people call upon the elementals to serve this purpose. You could used Christian images, like angels, or specific Gods from a pantheon that you are attracted to.

Once you call in the protectors, you’re ready to being doing the work that you are intending to do. This may include invoking the God and Goddess for an elaborate ritual, or doing something as simple as telling your own fortune with some runes. Whatever the purpose, you can go foreward knowing that you are adequately protected.

Brightest Blessings,

Rose Ariadne
Your Warm And Caring “Resident Witch In Charge”

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14 Nov

Hard times befall everyone from time to time. They definitely aren’t exclusive to Pagans, but I think that those of us who are walking this path can take in stride. In today’s post, I want to speak to you about how to overcome your personal troubles and allow them to take you to the next level in your life. When trouble comes your way, you have two choices….you can take things in stride and allow them to help you grow. Or you can let a bad situation ruin your life as you obsess over what happened to you in the past. The choice is yours.

I think one of the main reasons that Pagans have an easier time accepting difficult times is because we see life as cyclical instead of linear. The wheel of life turns and just as there are good times in life, we also experience the bad. Nature operates just like this. A bountiful fall turns to a cold winter. A beautiful blooming spring turns to a scorching hot summer. Nothing stops this turning of the wheel of life.

As a Pagan, I know that this wheel of life is internalized as well. Just as I know that this year’s Beltane celebration will be repeated next spring, I know that no matter whatever troubles I am having right now, I will experience happiness again. It is inevitable.

Of course, this doesn’t cure the problem I’m experiencing at the time, but it does give me strength to hold on to my sanity while I’m going through a tough time. I look for opportunities to learn from my difficult experiences. I ask myself â€œHow can I prevent myself from experiencing this again in the future? What can I do now to make it more tolerable?â€ The answers to these questions help me grow as a person.

You should approach hard times in your life with the same type of perspective. Anger, resentment and bitterness create nothing but more of the same. You have a choice with how you approach the world. The experiences you have do not mean that the Gods or against you or that you are somehow cursed. They happen to everyone. The only difference is that different people approach their circumstances differently.

I’m not implying that you should revel in your misery or enjoy it in any way. Tough times are tough, but your approach to them can make a difference. Spending all your time wallowing in misery is no way to live. Approaching your troubles with peace and patience is the best way to get through hard times in your life.

So today’s spell is all about developing peace in your life so that you can grasp onto the â€œgoodâ€ parts of your troubles. For this spell, you’ll need a white candle, four pink candles and a piece of paper. Ground and center yourself and cast your circle as you normally would. You can add a special touch to this spell by burning some peaceful incense like chamomile, rose or vetivert.

Start your ritual out by calling the four corners, as well as the God and Goddess. Before their presence, work on releasing all of your feelings about your difficult time. Write down everything that is troubling you on the piece of paper before you. Let it all out and put your emotion into your writing. Not only are you writing words on a page, but you are imbuing that page with all of your negative emotions, your fears and your worries. Let them go as you are writing them on the page.

Once you’re done writing, fold up your piece of paper and place it underneath your white candle. Place the four pink candles in the four corners around the white candle. Light the white candle first and repeat the following words:

I release my worries, and accept peace from the God and Goddess.

Light the pink candle to the North and say:

I send peace to the North.

Light the pink candle to the West and say:

I send happiness to the West.

Light the pink candle to the South and say:

I send calmness to the South

Light the pink candle to the East and say:

I send love and light to the East.

Focus your attention on the center candle and say:

And I feel all these things coming back to me.

Take a few deep breaths and experience the peaceful, calming feelings flowing back to you from all four corners. As you breathe in each breath, know that your worries have been released and are no longer yours to carry.

Hopefully this ritual will have you feeling peaceful the next time you feel overwhelmed. Life has it’s ups and downs, but with the right attitude and a little bit of magick, you don’t need to worry about your downs.

Brightest Blessings,

Rose Ariadne
Your Warm And Caring “Resident Witch In Charge”

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07 Nov

In the last post, I began sharing with a technique for spiritual growth through self hypnosis. While self hypnosis isn’t typically categorized as a pagan activity, I’ve found use for it in my life in the past and I hope you will as well.

So far, I’ve shared the first two steps in a three step process that will help you get yourself in a state of self hypnosis. The last two steps were done over a two week time period. This practice will help you quickly and easily get your mind into a state that is ready for suggestion. Suggestion is a term used in hypnosis for the â€œprogrammingâ€ that you give yourself. This programming usually takes the form of a statement made in the positive tense, kind of like an affirmation. The suggestion is something that your mind will accept and incorporate into your understanding of the world. In this way, self hypnosis can help your spiritual growth.

Once you start this third step, you no longer need to do the second step. For this step, you’ll need to get a 3X5 card that you can carry with you all the time. If you need something smaller, try cutting the card in half. You need to write down your suggestion and have it with you at all times.

Write down a statement that either speaks to a specific thing you’d like to change, or one that is more general for your overall well being. Always phrase your statement in the present tense. For example:

I am always calm and react with peace and tranquility.
I eat healthfully and maintain a perfect body weight.
I am constantly experiencing a greater level of abundance.
I am growing to be a person of great character and luck.

For this part of the process, you need to sit as you did before in a quiet spot, with your attention focused on the spot just above your eye level. Take your card and hold it in front of the spot. Read your suggestion out loud three times. As you do this, visualize the words of the suggestion coming true. See yourself acting in a peaceful manner. See yourself losing weight. See yourself experiencing all that you are meant to experience. Hold this image in your mind as you take yourself into your hypnotic state.

Take your three deep breaths and remember to hold your breath on the third cont. Close your eyes and count backward from five to one. Exhale and allow yourself to go into a state of hypnosis. This time, instead of counting slowly from twenty five to one, you are going to silently repeat the words of your suggestion in your mind. Repeat this over again and again until the words vibrate through you completely.

During your repetition, see the suggestion coming into your life. Hold onto your visualization so that you can feel what it will be like to experience your suggestion in real life. As you keep repeating the words, it’s okay if the statement begins to become fragmented or breaks apart. Just keep going. This is a sign of your subconscious mind deconstructing the statement to integrate it into who you are.

Once you feel like you should wake up (a feeling that you helped establish in the second step of this process), simply count forward from one to five and then open your eyes. You’ll notice that you’ll feel very refreshed and ready to go on with your day.

Self hypnosis is appropriate to use in all forms of your work and your life. It can be used for anything that requires your own efforts. If you’ve ever thought â€œI could succeed it I’d just get out of my own wayâ€ then self hypnosis is something that you should definitely try out. As for using it for a variety of things (like quitting smoking AND being more confident), it’s certainly up to you whether you want to try to program more than one thing at once. I have found that for me personally I get better results if I just concentrate on one suggestion for a period of a month or maybe six weeks, then move on to the next. Or, if you like, you could try a more blanket approach to your suggestion and come up with something that implies that you are improving your life holistically rather than just in one area.

No matter how you choose to use self hypnosis, I feel that it’s a good addition to any Pagan’s tools for self development. If you’re not on this path to grow spiritually, then you shouldn’t be on this path at all. Self hypnosis is a way to grow spiritual and improve your life on a variety of levels.

Brightest Blessings,

Rose Ariadne
Your Warm And Caring “Resident Witch In Charge”

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